Extinction Missing Scene
by Lady Dudley
Summary: The shuttle ride back. Tu/S; hints of A/T


**A/N: I don't know how proud I am of this but I thought I would upload it anyway to fill in the Tu/S ranks :) I have no idea how to spell the name of the alien species that Jon, Malcolm and Hoshi mutated into though, sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, however I would be quite happy to own Trip should the oppurtunity arise... ;)**

_Extinction Missing Scene_

The rescue had gone as planned; Jon, Hoshi and T'Pol were now safely in the Shuttlepod on their way back to _Enterprise_. But at the same time everything wasn't all right, Trip glanced back at the three of them behind him. The Captain and Hoshi made a strange sight having mutated in Lo'kek, even T'Pol had some small ridges on her face. Add to that the way they were acting, Trip smothered a grin as he swivelled around in his seat fully to watch the interplay between Jon and T'Pol. Jon definitely appeared to be the dominant male, who had decided on T'Pol as his mate. Trip tried not to snicker at the way that Jon was shooting glares in his and the MACO's direction, warning them to stay back.

His snicker died down when he regarded Hoshi. _His_ Hoshi, she was still beautiful, even with the alien attributes. She had cocked her head to the side and was regarding him closely; he remembered how hurt he had been that Malcolm, his close friend, hadn't seemed to recognise him. He didn't care for a repeat performance from the woman he loved. So he swivelled back to his station sharply.

The gesture didn't appear to have worked as he soon became aware of her cautiously making her way over to him. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before she placed a hand on the shoulder of his EV-suit, even though he had half expected the contact he still started slightly as he looked up at her. She hastily removed her hand and moved just out of his range but she continued to regard him. He swivelled his seat around, slowly, to face her and she cautiously crept towards him again.

"I...know you?" she asked after a moment, still dancing slightly on the balls of her feet, prepared to run. Trip smiled slightly, so his Hoshi was still in there somewhere.

"Yeah," he replied, "you do."

"I know well?"

He gave her a funny look, but before he could respond she continued.

"I love?" she made a gesture towards him; Trip gave her a sad smile.

"I like to think so."

She stopped her nervous movements and crept a little closer, crouching slightly she came to a stop by his knee.

"I can see why...you're...kind...gentle."

Trip bowed his head slightly, "Thank you," he made to swivel back away from her but she stopped him with a hand on the crook of his elbow.

"You love me?"

Trip considered his response, they were surrounded by other people, but he looked into her eyes. Her eyes were the same, she was still, somehow, the same. He couldn't lie to her. "Yes, I do," he told her, "very much," he added.

She gave him what seemed to pass for a smile and looked like she would say more but they had reached _Enterprise_.

*~*~*

Later that day Trip let out a satisfied sigh as he entered his quarters to find Hoshi, more or less back to normal, sprawled on his bed reading a PADD.

"Weren't you supposed to go to your quarters?" he asked, teasing.

She looked up at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I was told to go where I feel the most comfortable," she corrected him, "besides, I wanted to see you."

Trip smiled, "Good, I'm glad you came here, I was going to come and look for you once I got changed."

Hoshi shrugged, "I thought I'd save you the trouble," she said with a smile. She sat up and waited for him to come and sit beside her on the bed. He did, pulling her into his lap as he did so and putting his arms securely around her waist.

"Getting a little possessive there aren't we, Commander?" she teased, enjoying the attention.

"I almost lost you today that scared me, more than anything else has since we entered the expanse," he told her seriously. The teasing glint disappeared from her eyes and her face as she stroked the side of his face, "I'm afraid you're stuck with me, Mr. Tucker," she said, "I don't plan on going anywhere."

Trip looked into her eyes, "It's what you don't plan on that scares me," he said, still serious.

Hoshi took his face in her hands, "Trip, I can't promise you that I will always come back from an away mission or that nothing will go wrong out here." She gave a small shudder at the thought, "But I can tell you that I love you and promise to always try and come back to you." She planted a small kiss on his forehead and gauged his reaction; he seemed satisfied with her comment, so she forged ahead. "But I seem to recall that you're not all that easy to forget anyway," she added, trying to lighten the mood slightly. Trip looked at her quizzically, "On the Shuttlepod, I seem to recall a certain man in an EV-suit telling me that he loved me."

Trip smiled a little at the memory, pleased that he had been right, that she _had_ been in there somewhere. "I couldn't lie to you," he said with a small shrug, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Well, Mr. Tucker, perhaps now you could show me just how much you missed me..." she said with a grin, twining her arms tighter around his neck.

Trip was only too happy to oblige.

*~*~*

It was only much later that he mused how if something deep within Hoshi had recognised that they were together, what was it inside of Jonathon Archer that made him recognise T'Pol as his?? The answers he came up with kept him in a state of great amusement for the next week.


End file.
